We have seen a lot of local, national, and global coverage of the Ebola crisis over the last few weeks. This particular crisis has been of course discussed and highlighted as blog posts and other forms of content by some of the leading experts in the field.
My good friend and fellow crisis communications colleague Melissa Agnes had the chance to speak to my graduate crisis class this week and talk about her thoughts about the crisis and what are some key lessons to take away from this case. Melissa has written a blog post on how the CDC has addressed this crisis and their crisis message strategies.
However, we have seen some new ways in communicating and even reaching audiences using new platforms and even establishing new sites. One in particular I find interesting is how the BBC has launched their Ebola channel on WhatsApp. What this app is going to do is provide audio, visuals, and additional information directly to an individual’s phone through the app to individuals in West Africa. The information will be presented in both English and French.
Why is this an important point to note? We have seen of course a lot of discussion about the fast adoption of mobile compared to other forms of technology in West Africa, and this does present a new way for the popular global app to be used in communicating information regarding the Ebola outbreak.
Another trend we are seeing is the establishment of how stories are presented during a crisis, and this came from a start up. We have seen of course many start ups disrupt and change how certain businesses operate and engage with their audiences, but this is one that is impacting possibly how we consume news and get information during a crisis. News Deeply has established Ebola Deeply by providing more detailed analysis and combination of multiple forms of media in a single location. There are lists of articles updated in real time, a case map, videos, Twitter and news updates along with much more that is specifically focused on the particular subject.
These are two trends we as crisis communicators need to pay attention to for a couple of reasons. First, we are seeing organizations and others be creative with how they are approaching coverage of a particular crisis and adopting these practices into mobile communications. Second, we are seeing start ups like News Deeply taking the time and investment to look at what is happening in a particular field (ex. journalism, crisis communications, etc) and figuring out what they can do to offer a new perspective and disrupt the traditional framework of the field by offering a new service. We will continue to see this since this has been happening for years in traditional marketing, public relations, and strategic communication circles.
As a field and profession, we need to be aware of these so we can forecast other emerging trends as well as adapt our own practices [ex. crisis coverage, message strategies, brainstorming sessions, etc] to fit these new growing global expectations.
Let me know what you think about this. Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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